It is rare for a coach to openly position himself on a player who does not belong to his squad. Firstly because transfers are only with rare exceptions now its area of expertise. Then so as not to offend the club to which this player belongs. Finally, to protect the susceptibility of your locker room which could take a dim view of the arrival of a competitor. This shows that Adi Hütter ardently desires Randal Kolo Muani, about whom he spoke with envy on Monday at a press conference.
“Kolo Muani? It would be goodenthused the Monaco coach. But we have to be honest… There are a lot of strikers in Europe who could help us. I have known Kolo Muani since his time at Frankfurt, he scored a lot of goals there, they were very good. It could be a profile.“If Hütter goes so cheerfully it is because he knows that the situation is rather open.
By excluding his striker from the Parisian group on Sunday, Luis Enrique has, at the same time, clarified the future of Kolo Muani. It is not certain that this decision will suit the Parisian management, keen not to depreciate an attacker purchased for 90 million euros only a year and a half ago.
Cherki in Paris this winter: “It would make no sense either for him or for PSG”
Video credit: Eurosport
3 center forwards, 8 goals and a ton of frustration
His performances in Paris and, now, his status as a substitute or even a reserve have caused his rating to drop sharply. It’s difficult to imagine anything other than a loan this winter as PSG will have difficulty selling off their player. A successful rebound would potentially allow Paris to lose much less money than if Kolo Muani left for good this winter.
Good news for Monaco which will not have to invest a large sum even if it will necessarily be necessary to contribute to the astronomical salary of the former Nantes resident (more than a million euros per month). If the ASM now saves the 650,000 euros per month that Wissem Ben Yedder received, it is impossible for it to assume such an amount.
Breel Embolo (AS Monaco) against Benfica in 2024
Credit: Getty Images
Even if the investment would make sense. Today, in Europe as in Ligue 1, AS Monaco is an attractive team that is essentially missing… a scorer. Folarin Balogun, very average since his arrival, is on the sidelines for four months. Breel Embolo weighs too little on the course of matches and George Ilenikhena sows a lot of promise but far fewer goals. Between them, they account for only 8 of AS Monaco’s 34 goals since the start of the season. The 3rd in Ligue 1 has too often suffered from the lack of realism or impact of its number 9 since the start of the season and in particular last week at Arsenal (3-0) and against Reims (0-0).
We need to find someone who knows how to score goals
We better understand the eagerness of a very frank Adi Hütter on the subject: “We need to find a good solution for the second part of the season. We have profiles. We need to find someone who knows how to score goals. It doesn’t matter how old he is.“Embolo and Ilenikhena will appreciate it but today it is the reality of ASM which scores much less than Paris or Marseille and even a little less than Lille, Lyon and Nice.
He misses his Guessand, his Lacazette, his David. In this matter, Monaco obviously depends on the desires of PSG while the competition, led, according to L’Equipe, by Manchester United and Leipzig, is dense on this issue. But for Monaco, Kolo Muani and even PSG, who need to promote their player and therefore loan him to a club where he will shine, the hypothesis is closer to the obvious.
